BOA Blog

DERRICK AUSTIN wins 2015 A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize

May 07, 2015

We are pleased to announce that Derrick Austin is the winner of the 14th annual A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize for his collection Trouble the Water! The collection was selected from nearly 500 manuscript submissions by National Book Award-winning poet Mary Szybist. Austin will receive a $1,500 honorarium and book publication by BOA Editions, Ltd. in spring 2016 within the A. Poulin, Jr. New Poets of America series.
Of the winning collection, Mary Szybist says, “‘Expect poison of the standing water,’ Blake warned, highlighting the dangers of imaginative stagnation. I’m now tempted to believe that Blake himself has sent us Derrick Austin and his remarkable collection, Trouble the Water. At once gospel and troubadour song, these deeply spiritual and expansively erotic poems are lucid, unflinching, urgent. This is an extraordinary debut.”
Two finalists were also selected by Szybist: Binary Stars by Dana Koster and Novena by Jacques J. Rancourt.
Derrick Austin is a Cave Canem fellow and earned his MFA from the University of Michigan where he was awarded a Hopwood Award in graduate poetry. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in Best American Poetry 2015, Image: A Journal of Arts and Religion, New England Review, Callaloo, Crab Orchard Review, The Paris-American, Memorious, and other journals and anthologies. He is the Social Media Coordinator for The Offing.
BOA Editions will accept manuscripts for the 15th annual A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize between August 1 and November 30, 2015. An entry form and fee are required. Guidelines for the 2016 A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize are available on the contest submissions page.
Congratulations and welcome to the BOA family, Derrick!